Inspiring Female Founder Spotlight: Polly Lavarello

Polly Lavarello founded her company as a business strategist in 2020. Since then, Polly has supported various coaches and consultants in both the wellbeing and coaching industry to grow 7-figure evergreen funnels and have multi 6-figure live launches. 

Can you tell us a little about your background and the company?

I had been working for a marketing agency prior to having my first child. However fast forward 7 years to being a single parent to two children under the age of 4, I started contracting supporting marketing start ups so that I could work flexibly around my children. 

I was burning myself out trying to be everything to everyone, so I made the decision February 2020 to launch as a personal brand and start attracting clients to me vs. relying solely on word of mouth referrals. 

I started out supporting coaches with facebook ads, funnel audits and digital marketing strategy. Within 4 months of launching I’d already had my first £10k month and by the time my business was a year old, I became a VAT registered limited company.

How did the idea come to you for the company?

While my business was born from necessity, it’s also no coincidence that I enjoy supporting other women to gain financial freedom and flexibility in their own lives and businesses. 

Knowing there are so many women out there who are overqualified and underpaid for the jobs they’re doing, supporting women to become successfully self employed feels like it’s its own kind of revolution.

How did you achieve awareness?

I built up awareness entirely online. I shared value on Instagram for about two months in a row before I launched my first offer – and in the meantime took on 1:1 clients who discovered me through referrals. 

How have you been able to gain funding and grow?

I have never had any funding or financial backing which means I’ve had to be incredibly shrewd about every single investment. Early on, I recognised that the biggest cap on my income is lack of time, and so I have never been shy to invest in support and my small but lean team. 

What are the key successes?

Within a year of launching as a personal brand, I went from being on benefits to registering as a limited company. The following year I doubled my revenue, and we’re on track for another big year. 

Since launching I have supported multi six-figure launches and seven-figure funnels. 

What were/are the challenges and how have you overcome these?

My biggest challenge, like many other parents, was lack of time. I overcame this, by very early on, having a strong grasp of what my high ROI tasks were, and not being shy or slow to hire and delegate the tasks that weren’t. 

What are your plans now/for the future?

We have just launched The One Academy where I’m excited to be raising the calibre of business mentorship and the online learning experience. I have already supported hundreds of online business owners and I’d like to make it thousands by 2025.

What would you like to share with others to encourage them to start their own entrepreneurship journey?

Don’t overthink it. Just get started. You’ll learn so much simply by “the doing”. I know very few people still doing what they started out to do a few years ago. They often refine their goals, their tools, their brand positioning, their offers as they learn and grow. So don’t expect to know it all the moment you get started. When you accept failures as a feature of growth, rather than a glitch, you’ll do and learn a lot faster.

Can you share your top tips for entrepreneurial success?

1. Learn how to be an avid solution seeker.
2. Find a way to get visible that you can be consistent with.
3. Don’t be afraid to annoy people or get things wrong. (That’s inevitable.)
4. Sell more than you feel comfortable to as most people aren’t paying attention.

Who are the 5 people who inspire you the most and why? 

Greta Thunberg, Patti Smith, Rep Ocasio-Cortez, Anna Whitehouse, Allyson Felix – which is funny, because I’d never considered this before, but they all have activism in common.

Perhaps there’s an activist in me that’s yet to come out. For now my own form of activism is supporting incredible women to be successfully and sustainably self-employed. I would love for the gender pay gap to stop being a thing – and I feel like being the architect of our own careers is a great way to start.

What are your favourite inspirational /motivational quotes?

“Today is the opportunity to build the tomorrow you want”, although I’m less into quotes and more into affirmations. Those pop up on my phone and watch several times a day.

What are your Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn social handles and also website links so our readers can connect with you?  

https://www.instagram.com/pollylavarello/

https://www.facebook.com/pollylavarello

https://www.linkedin.com/in/pollylavarello/